Property Tax Bills Will Be Higher This Year For Most County Residents

Most Ste. Genevieve County residents will see an increase in their property tax bills for a second consecutive year as both the Ste. Genevieve County Ambulance District and the Ste. Genevieve R-II School District increased their rates during meetings this summer.

In addition, city of Ste. Genevievve residents will see the additional tax for Proposition P, a public safety initiative passed by voters in April of this year to generate more money for police salaries and other public safety measures. The increase of $0.2684 per $100 of assessed valuation is expected at this time to be marked mainly for police salaries.

The increase took the rate for the city from $0.7316 to $1.000.

The city’s tax rate also includes separate items for general revenue ($0.4812), the cemetery ($0.0480), the municipal band ($0.0773), and parks and recreation ($0.1251).

The ambulance district. which has both sales and property taxes, increased its rate from $0.0241 per $100 of assessed valuation to $0.0253. The board and director Kendall Shrum cited a fall-off in the sales tax receipts for its move. The district had been rolling the tax back from 2010 to 2017 because of the half-cent sales tax passed by voters in 2006. Last year, it increased the rate from $0.0209 to $0.0241. …

The Ste. Genevieve R-II School District increased its tax rate from $3.4590 per $100 of assessed valuation to $3.4612. The increase was smaller than last year’s.

Despite the increase, and decreases in three other school districts, Ste. Genevieve R-II still has the lowest tax rate of the five school districts that serve the county.

See complete story in the September 25 edition of the Herald.